Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Up 0.2% – Here’s What Happened

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 0.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $235.69 and last traded at $235.42. Approximately 8,361,816 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 58,104,707 shares. The stock had previously closed at $235.06.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Maxim Group increased their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup increased their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.25.

Apple Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.72, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $228.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $219.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $110,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

About Apple

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.